About

Dr. Pamela McElwee is a Professor in the Department of Human Ecology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She leads interdisciplinary research at the biodiversity-climate interface, aiming to find solutions to planetary crises. Currently, she serves as co-chair of the thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food, and health (the "nexus assessment") for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), working alongside Paula Harrison of the UK. In this role, she selected a scientific team of over 170 scientists from 60 countries and various disciplines. Their rigorous assessment of integrated solutions to interlinked environmental challenges was approved by 140 governments at the 11th plenary of IPBES in December 2024 in Windhoek, Namibia. Dr. McElwee's research interests focus on the socio-ecological impacts of global environmental problems, with expertise in biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. She combines an anthropologist's perspective and methods with a natural science background to address her research questions. Her extensive fieldwork in Southeast Asia employs diverse methods including quantitative household surveys, qualitative interviews, forest mensuration, and botanical sampling to study ecologically critical regions such as tropical forests and coastal estuaries. Her work integrates household-level decision-making regarding resource use with analysis of global institutional practices and norms influencing environmental management. She is also increasingly involved in research based in the US, particularly in New Jersey and the Atlantic coast. Dr. McElwee has received an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities faculty fellowship for her ongoing book project titled "Rivers of Blood, Mountains of Bone: An Environmental History of the Vietnam War," which examines how conflict has created environmental vulnerabilities. Her first book, "Forests are Gold: Trees, People, and Environmental Rule in Vietnam," was honored by the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies as the best book on Southeast Asia in the social sciences and was shortlisted by the International Convention of Asian Scholars for best book on Asia in the social sciences. She serves as an editor for several journals including PLOS Climate and has previously edited for Conservation Letters, Conservation and Society, and the Journal of Vietnamese Studies. Her science-policy work has expanded significantly in recent years. Besides leading the IPBES nexus assessment, she led the ecosystems chapter for the US Fifth National Climate Assessment and is an author for the agriculture and food systems chapter of the Sixth National Climate Assessment. She was a lead author for the governance of biodiversity chapter in the IPBES Global Assessment and for the integrated response options chapter in the IPCC report on Climate Change and Land. She was also one of 50 expert authors for the joint IPCC/IPBES Workshop Report on Climate Change and Biodiversity released in June 2021. Additionally, she is the Group Lead for the Cultural Practices and Ecosystem Management Thematic Group of the IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem Management and has served on the scientific development committee for the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions as well as on the IUCN Advisory Board for the Nature-based Recovery Initiative.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Environmental resource management
• Business
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Environmental planning
• Geography
• Economics
• Religious studies
• History
• Ancient history
• Economic growth
• Natural resource economics
• Theology
• Archaeology
• Environmental ethics
• Philosophy
• Economic history

Selected publications

• IPBES Nexus Assessment: Chapter 1 – Introducing the nexus

  DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) · 2026-01-06

  reportOpen access

  Chapter 1: Introducing the nexus of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

  PublisherDOI

• Filling the US gap at science-policy bodies

  Science · 2026-03-19

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Barriers and enablers to integrated management across the biodiversity-water-food-health-climate nexus in Southeast Asia

  2026-03-10

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The recent Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Nexus Assessment evaluates the important interlinkages between biodiversity, food, health, water and climate change, showing that the world is facing interlinked crises that amplify one another and tackling them in separate silos has been ineffective and even counterproductive. The report also highlights a set of 71 “response options” which provide synergistic benefits across the five sectors. In this paper, we will examine nexus interlinkages and governance in several countries in Southeast Asia, and why siloed approaches continue to persist. Through collaborative research involving scientists across the US, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, this project is uncovering existing gaps in integrated sustainability planning, policy and strategies, as well as identifying promising cases of holistic management that need scaling out. We have engaged in policy mapping and interviews with decisionmakers (more than 100 decision-makers and related stakeholders (e.g., NGOs engaged with policymakers from 2020-2024) to understand the current landscape of nexus governance, including existing integration among sectors and current gaps.In the presentation we will present findings from the policy mapping, specifically looking at the barriers and enablers of integrated policy to manage across biodiversity-water-food-health-climate. One key finding has been the divergent understanding of the concept of ecosystem services across decision-makers in multiple sectors. Rather than serving as a bridging concept that might contribute to integration of biodiversity with other sectors, our project has found that decisionmakers do not fully understand or use this concept, particularly in sectors like water, energy and finance. A lack of data availability, unfamiliarity with IPBES and its work, and lack of stakeholder involvement in ecosystem services assessments were all identified as key gaps that future science-policy interfaces in Southeast Asia could address. Our paper will also discuss what some possible alternative bridging concepts might be, and how decision-support tool developments might aid sectoral integration and biodiversity mainstreaming.

  PublisherDOI

• Extreme events and socio-ecological transformations: Implications for research and management in the United States

  2026-02-23

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Ongoing transformational shifts in natural and managed ecosystems threaten human health and well-being. A particularly urgent but underappreciated driver of transformation is the growing frequency and severity of extreme events---wildfires, droughts, terrestrial and marine heatwaves, hurricanes, storms, and floods---that occur on top of gradual changes and often accelerate ecological change, from species losses and movements, spread of invasives and disease, and altered functions and processes. These changes in turn create cascading socio-economic consequences, including diminished ecosystem services, economic impacts, and heightened inequities in vulnerable communities. This Review synthesizes recent advances on how extreme events drive ecological transformations across US ecosystems and outlines their consequences for human well-being and economic impacts. We note case studies of extreme events leading to regime shifts, from wildfire-driven forest loss, marine heatwave-induced collapses of kelp and coral systems, and storm-driven coastal salt marsh loss and ghost forest expansion, among others. Existing management and policy approaches are often predicated on ecosystem stationarity or stability targets that are not grounded in the reality and unpredictability of increasing extreme events. Contending with non-linear dynamics, tipping points, and cascading risks of extreme events within ecosystems may require adaptive governance, cross-scale coordination, integration of Indigenous and local knowledge, and in some cases, difficult triage decisions. Proactive strategies, including connectivity, nature-based solutions and protection of climate refugia, offer promise but are vulnerable themselves, while key research and monitoring gaps remain.

  PublisherDOI

• IPBES Nexus Assessment: Chapter 7 – Summary and synthesis of options, knowledge and technology gaps and capacity development

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-01-06

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Chapter 7: Summary and synthesis of options, knowledge and technology gaps and capacity development of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

  PublisherDOI

• 50 years later, Vietnam’s environment still bears the scars of war – and signals a dark future for Gaza and Ukraine

  2025-04-28

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 50 anos depois, o meio ambiente do Vietnã ainda tem cicatrizes da guerra e sinaliza um futuro sombrio para Gaza e Ucrânia

  2025-04-29

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Introduction – cultural ecosystem services

  2025-05-20 · 3 citations

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are the multifaceted and nonmaterial benefits that humans service from nature. This introduction chapter explores definitions of CES, histories of research on CES, and provides an overview of the 34 chapters in the Handbook and the major themes raised. This includes how CES are understood and categorized, how CES are measured and valued, how CES are integrated into policy and management, and what future directions for CES research and practice are. The chapter also discusses why a Handbook on Cultural Ecosystem Services is necessary and timely.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A tale of two panels: learning and coordinating across IPCC, IPBES, and other science-policy interfaces

  Climatic Change · 2025-03-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has been operational since 2012, making it nearly twenty-five years younger than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Inspired by the IPCC's success in raising awareness about climate change, IPBES aims to achieve the same for biodiversity. However, their approaches have diverged, particularly around incorporation of diverse knowledge systems, engagement with stakeholders, and coordination across science-policy platforms. This essay reflects on how IPBES and IPCC have approached their mandates and audiences, drawing on the author’s participation in both institutions, and making the argument that developing protocols to recognize and weave in diverse knowledges, bringing in new stakeholders and expanding communications, and engaging in creative coordination can strengthen the impact and reach of assessments. These practices can create new audiences and a stronger foundation for action, all valuable lessons for the IPCC's upcoming Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) cycle.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Revisiting the Environmental Legacies of the Vietnam War

  Current History · 2025-08-29

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War provides an opportunity to reflect on the conflict’s enduring scars, from severe ecological damages to lingering human health impacts. In particular, the US military’s use of environmentally destructive technologies, ranging from herbicide campaigns to weather modification, followed by a lack of adequate postwar restoration efforts, left the country struggling to recover for decades. Vietnam’s experience reveals the inadequacy of existing legal and scientific responses to environmental harm during wartime. Revisiting lessons from Vietnam offers insights into how ongoing and future conflicts will require better integration of ecological considerations into international law and post-conflict reconstruction.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Downscaling REDD Policies in Developing Countries: Assessing the Impact of Carbon Payments on Household Decision Making and Vulnerability to Climate Change in Vietnam

  NSF · $89k · 2011–2015

• Understanding the Use of Ecosystem Services Concepts in Environmental Policy

  NSF · $390k · 2019–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Victòria Reyes-García

  Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats

  17 shared

• Yildiz Aumeeruddy‐Thomas

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  16 shared

• Álvaro Fernández‐Llamazares

  Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

  12 shared

• Zsolt Molnár

  Centre for Ecological Research

  11 shared

• Hien T. Ngo

  United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

  11 shared

• Unai Pascual

  Basque Centre for Climate Change

  11 shared

• Daniel C. Miller

  10 shared

• Joachim H. Spangenberg

  9 shared

Education

• Ph.D., School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

  Yale University